Recently, basing on the field theory, the information techniques and the theory of the traditional Chinese medicine, especially the theory of channels and collaterals, the Chinese academic community has made extensive researches and a great deal of experiments on the vital information, one of the most important vital characteristics of a living body. Particularly, by means of modern detecting equipments, different measuring tests were made on "Fa Gong", an energy emitting phenomena performed by a "Qi Gong" expert, a deep breathing exercises expert, and on isotopic tracing of the channels and collaterals, resulting in remarkable achievements. These research results were reported on "NATURE JOURNAL" Vol. 3, No. 8, Aug., 1980, PP 563-566, entitled "A Preliminary Study on the Dispatching and Accepting of Vitalist-Code by Human Body", and Vol. 3 No. 9, Sept., 1980, PP 681-682, entitled "Experimental Research of the Acupuncture Points along the Pericardium Meridian" published by Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House, and "SCIENCE YEAR BOOK" 1981, PP 1.34-1.41, entitled "The Research Reproduction and Application of Specific Life Information", published also by Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House. The contents of these articles are incorporated herewith by reference.
According to the theory of physics, the physical world manifests itself in two kinds of matter, one with static mass while the other without static mass but with energy (different kinds of field). These two kinds of matter are highly correlated and any one with static mass possesses its own natural resonance frequency. A living body can also be treated as a morphology system made up of cells, tissues and organs, as well as an information system made up of different kind of field matter, such as cell potential, electrocardiographic signals, electroencephalographic signals and various kinds of radiation. The two systems interact on each other and coexist within the same living body. The channels and collaterals system of the traditional Chinese medicine, if analysed according to the principles of its performance, is an inseparable part of the vital information system of a human body. The distribution and movement of the field matter of the vital information system will be changed by the abnormality of any tissue or organ of a living body, no matter whether it is a functional disorder or an organic change. Therefore, important information about the health status of a living body can be obtained by detecting the distribution and movement of the field matter of the vital information system.
In clinical practice of the traditional Chinese medicine, it has long been recognized that when some kind of disorder happened to an organ within a human body, along the channels and collaterals corresponding to this organ can often be found some specific acupoints (such as the ones located on hands, feet or limbs) which manifest high sensitivity to, for example, touch and acupuncture, and the acupuncture treatment on such acupoints can almost always lead to a satisfied result. This phenomenon can be well explained by the theory of channels and collaterals of the traditional Chinese medicine and it is often used in the clinical practice for diagnostic purposes. However, there exist differences between individuals for this phenomenon of acupoints' sensitivity, and on the other hand, like all the other phenomena relating to the channels, collaterals and acupoints, the clinical use of this phenomenon relies wholly upon the patient's stated awareness and there is no physical means for quantitative detection and evaluation, which has seriously restricted its clinical use. Accordingly, the detection of the acupoints by modern detecting means has become a more and more interesting research field.
In the prior art, there are different kinds of devices for detecting acupoints and obtaining the characteristic information therefrom. These devices can be used to detect at different points on the body surface the changes of different physical parameters, such as resistance, electrical potential, magnetic field, temperature, sensitivity of the point to the pressure, etc, and to locate the points with abnormal values. The diagnosis and treatment of diseases can be made according to the quantitative changes of these physical parameters.
It is known in the prior art that when some kind of disease happened to a person, the decrease of skin resistance or increase of electric potential can be detected at some specific points on the skin of the patient, and devices have been designed according to this discovery for detecting skin resistance or electric potential at specific points. However, since the intensity of the bioelectric field within a living body is very low, the differences of the distribution and movement of this electric field between its normal and abnormal states, especially for those at their early stage, are very small. In addition, because of the existence of the individual differences and the environmental interferences, it is difficult to make a detection of this bioelectric field and more difficult to obtain useful information therefrom. In this case, if only a receiving-type or passive apparatus is used for detecting the characteristic values of this bioelectric field, such as using a highly sensitive potentiometer to sense the tiny variation of the potential at the points, the detecting sensitivity and the interference shielding capability of the apparatus must be very high. All environmental interferences should be under strict control to overcome the above-mentioned difficulties and get the useful detecting results. These constraints make the detecting apparatus and process very complicated and expensive, and it is still difficult to distinguish the tiny variations of the potential at the points from environmental interference. For these reasons, statistically meaningful detecting results can not be obtained for diagnosing the diseases at their early stage. For solving the problems, apparatus was designed for detecting the change of resistance between points to identify the specific points. This was done by way of applying a voltage to a living body and detecting simultaneously the current through the points to obtain useful information therefrom. This kind of detection has a much lower requirement with respect to the physical means and environmental control, so it can be easily used in different circumstances. However, in this kind of detection both the relatively high stimulating voltage (usually 10-20 V or more) and strong pressure applied to the point by the electrodes have formed an external stimulation to the points and changed artificially the normal state of the distribution and movement of the bioelectric field within the living body. Therefore, the interference to a living body produced by the detection itself have made impossible the gathering of useful information which reflects pathological changes within a living body.
To solve the problems in prior art, the present inventors have suggested that the theory of channels and collaterals, and the acupoints known to traditional Chinese medicine, reflect certain special principles about the distribution and movement of the electro-magnetic field within human body, and form an unseparable part of the vital information system of human body. If proper means can be provided to avoid both the environmental and detective interference with the electro-magnetic field within the human body, the important information which reflects the state of the channels and collaterals system and the vital information system, can be obtained by detecting electric parameters at different points. This information can then be used for diagnosing diseases and verifying the curative effects of a therapeutic process.